Vehicle testing facility for jatropha fuel up

Manilla Bulletin
By MELODY M. AGUIBA
January 16, 2010, 2:31pm

A P100-million Vehicle Testing Research Laboratory (VTRL) has been put up to test the technical viability of the jatropha methyl ester (JME) which has so far gone through successful pilot testing at the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI).

The VTRL testing is part of the plan to finally commercialize JME that will boost the country's supply of biofuel in light of the plan to raise the biofuel mix with diesel to five percent from the present two percent, according to Department of Science And Technology (DoST) Undersecretary Graciano P. Yumul Jr.

The VTRL will test the JME on buses and other vehicles and will determine fuel consumption, vehicle speed, and other parameters of technical viability as how CME has gone through more than five years ago. The VTRL is operated by the University of the Philippines-College of Engineering in partnership with the ITDI-DoST and Department of Energy (DoE).

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